Pranesh M wins 2022/2023 Rilton Cup
IM Pranesh M emerged as the winner of the Rilton Cup, the first tournament of the FIDE Circuit. The 16-year-old from India, seeded 22nd, made a clean sweep of the field in Stockholm, winning eight games and finishing a full point ahead of IM Kaan Kucuksari (Sweden) and GM Nikita Meshkovs (Latvia). The 2022/2023 Rilton Cup, the strongest open tournament in Sweden, ran from December 27 to January 5 and brought together 136 players representing 29 national federations. Photo: Lars OA Hedlund The champion crossed the 2500 rating threshold and became India’s 79th Grandmaster, having completed his three norms prior to this event. Pranesh M is now the early leader of the FIDE Circuit with 6.8 circuit points that he gets for this victory. The one who accumulates the most points by the end of the year qualifies for the 2024 FIDE Candidates. More information is available on worldchampionshipcycle.fide.com/. Final standings: 1 IM Pranesh M IND 2475 8 2 IM Kucuksari Kaan SWE 2492 7 3 GM Meshkovs Nikita LAT 2566 7 4 GM Urkedal Frode Olav NOR 2536 6½ 5 GM Galperin Platon UKR 2530 6½ 6 IM Gorshtein Ido ISR 2469 6½ 7 IM Sokolovsky Yahli ISR 2415 6½ 8 GM Raja Rithvik R IND 2453 6 9 IM Parkhov Yair ISR 2470 6 10 IM Souleidis Georgios GRE 2410 6 Photo: Lars OA Hedlund In addition the main tournament several side events were held at the 2022-2023 Rilton Cup. Lavinia Valcu of Sweden (pictured above) won the Rilton 1800 with a perfect score 7/7, while Andre Kunz from Germany came out on top in the Rilton Elo. Official website: rilton.se/ Photo: Lars OA Hedlund
India Championships: Karthik Venkataraman and Divya Deshmukh win titles
GM Karthik Venkataraman and WGM Divya Deshmukh are the freshly minted India Champions. It is Karthik’s first victory in a national championship, while Divya successfully defended her title. The MPL 59th National Chess Championship 2022, organized by Delhi Chess Association at Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, Near ITO, New Delhi, took place from December 22, 2022, to January 03, 2023. The 13-round Swiss tournament brought together nearly 200 players from 30 states and five affiliated units of the country, including 18 GMs, 27 IMs, 12 FM and 8 CMs. With many leading India’s players battling at FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship at the same time, the top seed of the event was GM Sethuraman SP (2642). Coming into the final round with 9.5/12, a half-point half point ahead of three competitors, GM Karthik Venkataraman of Andhra Pradesh drew his game with Visakh N R and came out on top with 10/13. As many as four players finished on 9.5/13 with GMs Abhijeet Gupta and Visakh N R taking silver and bronze, respectively, thanks to superior Buchholz. IM Koustav Chatterjee of West Bengal scored 9 points and completed his final GM norm, while Hari Madhavan N B of Tamil Nadu and Subhayan Kundu of West Bengal secured their IM norms. At the Closing ceremony Shri Bharat Singh Chauhan, Chairman FIDE Advisory Committee and Deputy President of the Asian Chess Federation awarded prizes to the winners. Final standings: 1 GM Karthik Venkataraman 2503 10 2 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2601 9½ 3 GM Visakh N R 2544 9½ 4 IM Shyaamnikhil P 2490 9½ 5 IM Das Sayantan 2475 9½ 6 IM Aronyak Ghosh 2521 9 7 IM Koustav Chatterjee 2508 9 8 GM Mitrabha Guha 2487 9 9 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2642 9 10 Hari Madhavan N B 2385 9 The 48th Edition of the Indian Women’s National Championship was held at Ghodawat University Kolhapur from December 26, 2022, to January 05, 2023. The 11-round Swiss tournament was organized by the Chess Association of Kolhapur under the aegis of FIDE, All India Chess Federation, Maharashtra Chess Association & Kolhapur District Chess Association at the Sanjay Ghodawat University, Kolhapur. The MPL Sports Foundation was the title sponsor of the event, while Sanjay Ghodawat University co-sponsored the Championship. Chitale Dairy, H2e Systems Pune, Jain Irrigation, and Firodia Group were the Associate Sponsors for the event. WGM Divya Deshmukh successfully defended her title after defeating IM Bhakti Kulkarni in the final round and scoring 9.5/11. WGM Mary Ann Gomes finished second on 9/11 after beating WIM Rucha Pujari, and WGM Vantika Agrawal came third (8.5/11). Interestingly, since 2011 every national Women’s champion has won her title at least twice in a row, and Divya was no exception. Final standings: 1 WGM Divya Deshmukh 2347 9½ 2 WGM Gomes Mary Ann 2320 9 3 WGM Vantika Agrawal 2352 8½ 4 WIM Chitlange Sakshi 2213 8 5 WIM Sharma Isha 2212 8 6 IM Kulkarni Bhakti 2319 7½ 7 IM Soumya Swaminathan 2322 7½ 8 WGM Srija Seshadri 2204 7½ 9 WIM Arpita Mukherjee 2211 7½ 10 WGM Varshini V 2141 7½ Photos: All India Chess Federation
Call for submissions: FIDE Veterans Support Program
The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the continuation of its support to chess veterans. A number of grants will be awarded next month to distinguished players, coaches and organizers aged 65+. Anyone over this age who has contributed to the development of chess and who is in an unstable financial situation is eligible to submit an application. As in previous years, we invite federations, clubs, and players themselves to send their applications, including a CV of the nominee, to the FIDE Secretariat: office@fide.com. The deadline for submissions is January 23, 2023.
Women in Chess: FIDE WOM Workshop held in Stockholm
The International Chess Federation declared 2022 the Year of the Woman in Chess. Throughout the year, many events were held to form gender equity policies, practices and programs to promote women’s participation in chess and to make the game more attractive to women. The year is over, but the work continues. The first FIDE WOM workshop organized by the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess and Stockholm Chess Federation took place on January 05, in Stockholm, Sweden, during the Rilton Cup. The speakers of the event – Pia Cramling, GM, Swedish legendary chess player, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, WGM, Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board, Ofelia Thörnqvist, Chairperson Sveriges Schackförbund Women Commission, Anastasiya Karlovich, WGM, Chess Journalist, Photographer, Ulkar Umudova, member of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess – talked about their chess careers and shared their experience how the game helps them in the profession and everyday life. Anastasia Sorokina, Chairperson of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess, was the event’s moderator. A lot of things were said before about the positive impact of chess on decision-making, troubleshooting and communication. But true stories are worth a thousand words. ” I feel so well in this community. I’ve done so many things in my life, but the feeling that I am a member of a chess world has always helped me a lot. It has given me a very important sense of security,” said Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board Dana Reizniece-Ozola in her presentation. Speaking about the role of women in chess, she added: “There are no physical or other restrictions; it’s just our mindset that sometimes stops the girls and puts the glass ceiling for them. And it is our task to break it and allow them to excel.” According to the speakers, through chess, women can become not only professional players but journalists, bloggers, politicians, trainers, and arbiters. In her presentation, Pia Cramling shared her experience as one of the world’s strongest chess players and the experience of her daughter, who is also a chess player and a successful chess streamer. “I do so much believe in what chess gives to you. It is not what it was before, not something which is only for men. Now it changes. It is really for the young, for the girls, for everyone. We can meet anyone at the chessboard. Chess takes away the boundaries – age, sex, and other things don’t matter,” she said. Ofelia Thörnqvist, Chairperson Sveriges Schackförbund Women Commission, showed some statistics about women in chess in Sweden. According to her data, although in school chess clubs, the number of girls is almost equal to the number of boys playing chess, it significantly reduces among girls and women aged 15-25. To change these statistics for the better, Sveriges Schackförbund established online chess training for women and hosts girls’ and women’s national championships and weekly tournaments. The workshop was followed by a simul with Pia Cramling and Dana Reizniece-Ozola and a blitz tournament for all the participants. Watch the full event on the FIDE YouTube channel: youtu.be/L-DbU4ulGzs Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich
Belgrade to host Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities
Belgrade, Serbia will host the Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities, which will take place from January 29 to February 5, 2023. This is a team competition, played over four boards, and limited to a maximum of 30 participant teams: 27 teams are selected by rating, and four are nominated by the FIDE President. If there is an odd number of participating teams, the host Federation (Serbia) is entitled to register a second team. Preliminary list of participating teams and lineups You can find the invitation letter, with all the details about registration, travel and accommodation, et cetera, on the following link. DIS Olympiad 2023 Photo: guide.michelin.com/
2023 FIDE Laws of Chess published
During the last days of the year, the FIDE Rules Commission completed the administrative check on the 2023 Laws of Chess, which were approved at the 93rd FIDE General Assembly in Chennai, India, and came into force on January 1, 2023. The final reviewed version is now available in chapter E012023 of the FIDE Handbook. This English text is the authentic version of the Laws of Chess, and translations to other languages are now being prepared. The main novelty (12.2.7) is that the penalty in rapid games is now reduced to one minute from two minutes in the previous version. The new version also includes a mention of FIDE certified “electronic scoresheet” (8.1.1.2), which introduction was approved by FIDE in February 2022. No other rules were amended during this check, and most changes are purely editorial, consisting of correcting typos and adjusting the numbering of chapters and sections. Following a process that FIDE has applied to all its body of documentation, pronouns were changed from “he” to “he/she”. By now, almost all legacy documents at FIDE have already undergone this indispensable modification to make them inclusive. The FIDE Rules Commission has published on its website a comprehensive table showing all changes and corrections. You can find it at this link.
The 1st Chess Workshop for Women set for January 05
FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess and Stockholm Chess Federation are pleased to announce the 1st FIDE WOM and Stockholm Chess Federation workshop that will take place on January 05, 2023, at 12:00 in Stockholm, Sweden. The event will be held during Rilton Cup in the Scandic Continental, Vasagatan 22, Stockholm, subway station T-Centralen. According to the workshop’s organizers, chess is a special world, and through chess, women can become not only professional players and champions but journalists, bloggers, politicians, trainers, and arbiters. The speakers will exchange experiences and showcase how chess can change women’s lives for the better. Invited guests of the workshop: Pia Cramling, GM, Swedish legendary chess player, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, WGM, Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board, Ofelia Thörnqvist, Chairperson Sveriges Schackförbund Women Commission,Anastasiya Karlovich, WGM, Chess Journalist, Photographer Moderator of the event: Anastasia Sorokina, Chairperson of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess The event will be live streamed on FIDE Youtube: youtu.be/L-DbU4ulGzs Prior to the workshop, the first WOM meeting will be held at 10:00 CET.
January 2023 Chess Solvers rating list published
The latest Chess Solvers Rating List, issued by the Solving Tournament Manager and released by the World Federation for Chess Composition, set a historical record in this chess format. On January 1st 2023, 20-year-old Danila Pavlov (FIDE) became the youngest ever #1. His compatriot Georgy Evseev occupied the top position for eight previous years and still holds the absolute record as the longest-standing No.1. Danila’s rise to the top was only a natural outcome of his unprecedented series of triumphs. In May 2022, he convincingly won the 15th European Chess Solving Championship (ECSC) in Riga, thus defending his 2019 European title (after the Covid break in 2020-21). This alone was an absolute record for his age. On the way to this victory, Danila won the Open tournament in Riga, a traditional introduction to ECSC. In the 45th World Chess Solving Championship in Fujairah (UAE) last November, Pavlov defended the title of World Champion from Rhodes 2021, again becoming the youngest-ever solver to do it. On top of that, he won the introductory open tourney again and became the overall winner of the World Solving Cup 2021/22, the cycle of 14 yearly solving competitions in different countries. As if that wasn’t enough, Danila capped the year by winning both tourneys in quick solving at the 64th World Congress of Chess Composition in Fujairah (Open Quick Solving and Open Solving Show), matching the 2022 domination of Magnus Carlsen in all different time controls. GM solver Danila Pavlov is not the only junior representing a new wave of youngsters in solving competitions raising after the quarantine break in 2020/21. His compatriot Ural Khasanov, the new World Vice-Champion aged only 16, is bound to mount much higher from his current 9th position in the rating list. Ilija Serafimović from Serbia (pictured above), aged 18, just broke into the top 20. An all-around chess problemist, he is equally good at solving and composing chess problems. Ilija convincingly won all Youth Chess Composing tourneys at the 64th WCCC. Another new name is 14-years old Anirudh Daga from India, a rising star in both solving and composing. The biggest gains in the rating list also belong to young solvers: Kamila Hryshchenko (20) from Great Britain (+163) (pictured below) and Kevinas Kuznecovas (17) from Lithuania (+144). Young Romanian chess players Denisa-Andreea Bucur (+74) and Mihnea Costacchi (+48), as well as Mongolian chess GM Bilguun Sumia (+65), are also on the upswing. Photos: Fujairah Chess & Culture Club Official website: https://www.wfcc.ch/
FIDE January 2023 rating list is out
The last month of 2022 was marked by strong tournaments with fast time control that somewhat overshadowed classical events. Consequently, both Open and Women’s top 10 (standard rating) saw just minimal changes. The only exception is the rise of Tan Zhongyi, who picked 12 rating points after winning Women’s Candidates Pool B in Khiva and repeated her career-high 7th position in the rating list. Still, three players fared well in December, substantially increasing their classical rating. Amin Tabatabaei (+26), Kirill Alekseenko (+18) and Teodora Injac (+17) put up a strong showing in Elllobregat Open and IX Chessable Sunway Sitges Chess Festival and earned some good rating points. Magnus Carlsen ruled supreme in Almaty at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship. The World Champion in all three categories took both rapid and blitz titles for the third time in his career. Magnus consolidated his top position in the rapid list (+5 points) and moved up to third place in the blitz list after gaining 22 points in Almaty. Nodirbek Abdusattorov did not manage to defend his rapid title but continues climbing in the respective rating list. First, the talented youngster came out on top in a very strong Gashimov Memorial (+20 points) and then picked 18 points in the World Rapid Championship to cross a 2700 rating mark. Despite winning silver in the World Blitz Championship, Hikaru Nakamura lost 30 rating points and gave up the top spot in the blitz rating to Alireza Firouzja, who did not play in Almaty. The biggest rating beneficiaries in this event alongside Magnus are Richard Rapport (+47), the bronze-winner Haik Martirosyan (+25) and Vladimir Fedoseev (+19). All three considerably improved their positions in the blitz rating list. Fresh from her successful campaign in the Women’s Candidates (where she earned 7 rapid rating points), Tan Zhongyi won the World Women’s Rapid Championship, added another 8 points to her tally and mounted to the fourth position in the women’s rapid rating list. Alexandra Maltsevskaya delivered an uneven performance in this event, but her triumph in the European Women’s Rapid Championship just a few days earlier allowed the Polish youngster to increase her rating by impressive 53 points. Bibisara Assaubayeva not only successfully defended her title of women’s blitz world champion but also earned 36 rating points and broke into the top 10 women’s blitz. Interestingly, as many as five players from the women’s top 10, including the silver-winner Humpy Koneru, lost quite a few rating points in this tournament. Photo: Lennart Ootes
Kenya Championship 2022: Mehul Gohil and Joyce Nyaruai win titles
Kenya National Championship, one of the most interesting and followed chess competitions in Africa, ended yesterday in a dramatic playoff at Charter Hall, Nairobi. The event attracted 203 players and ran for five days, from 26th to 30th December 2022. Mehul Gohil and Joyce Nyaruai Friday reclaimed their Kenya National Chess Championship (KNCC) Open Section and Ladies Section titles, respectively. Both competitions were 9-round Swiss events with classical time control. Just as many had predicted on Thursday evening, the Open Section’s winner of the competition was decided in a tiebreaker. Gohil, the 2014 and 2019 champion, outwitted Hugh Misiko in the final Armageddon game after they drew 1-1 in both rapid and blitz games. The two players had tied at the top on eight points after nine rounds. Gohi’s hard-fought win was a sweet one since he lost to Misiko in the fifth round of the competition, which is one of those used to select the 2023 national team for the Africa games to be held in Ghana from August 4-19. For their triumphs, Mehul drove home with a brand new Mazda Demio car for the second time in three years, while Nyaruai pocketed Sh100,000 (about USD 1000) “This was very tough, basically it was like a penalty kick, and I am happy to have won. To become the best in chess takes years of practice and love for the game, so winning the car is a validation of the hard work,” said Gohil. He uses the 2019 car for his own movement and is considering turning the second one into a taxi. Gohil, the second finest chess player in the country with a rating of 2012, defeated the 2021 champion Martin Njoroge (1973) in Round 9 to force playoffs. That game was a repeat of the 2021 final, where Njoroge carried the day in a blitz playoff after the rapid games failed to produce a winner. Then, Gohil and Njoroge tied on eight points in nine rounds. Hugh Misiko said he never expected to reach the competition’s final. “I just came to play chess and enjoy but not to win the car. I did not expect to go to the finals, and since this performance has motivated me to work hard, next year I must win with maximum points,” said the Eldoret-based businessman and chess coach. CM Ben Nguku defeated Brian Kadenge to finish third with 7.5 points and claim bronze, while Njoroge, Matthew Kamau, Caleb Miran, Joseph Methu and Jackson Kamau all ended with seven points each, tying for fourth place. Final standings: 1 Okonga Hugh Misiko 1785 8 2 Gohil Mehul 2012 8 3 Namale Ben Nguku 1972 7½ 4 Njoroge Martin 1973 7 5 Kanegeni Matthew Kamau 1944 7 6 Marani Caleb 1499 7 7 Methu Joseph Muragu 1945 7 8 Ndegwa Jackson Kamau 1809 7 9 Ngani Victor 1925 6½ 10 Brian Gabriel Mwangi 1760 6½ WCM Joyce Nyaruai defeated a former champion WCM Lucy Wanjiru and the defending champion and the top-rated participant WFM Sasha Mogeli to top the women’s section with eight points and reclaim title she won in 2017. “The competition was extremely tough. If you remember, I had a rough start by registering two draws in my first two matches. In my mind at that time, my campaign was over but the other players also stumbled and I was able to pick up,” the champion Nyaruai said. Having defeated her main rival Glenda Madelta (1565) in the penultimate round, Nyaruai he leapfrogged her by a half-point and needed only a draw in round nine to bag her second national title. Joyce secured it after beating against Wanjiru (1454) with the white pieces. Madelta defeated Jully Mutisya (1460) to finish runners-up with 7.5 points. The 2021 champion Sasha Mongeli (1726) finished third with seven points ahead of Wanjiru who scored 6/9. Final standings: 1 Ndirangu Joyce Nyaruai 1699 8 2 Madelta Glenda 1565 7½ 3 Mongeli Sasha 1726 7 4 Wanjiru Lucy 1454 6 5 Mutisya Jully 1460 6 6 Cherono Mercy 1196 6 7 Nicole Albright 1346 6 8 Elizabeth Cassidy Maina 1209 6 9 Mwendwa Triza 1466 5½ 10 Muturi Elsie 1147 5½ Photo: Chess Kenya